The best kept secret to using social networking to grow your business

With a lot of attention being given to the large social networks like Facebook, Twitter, LinkedIn and Pinterest, one of the best kept social networking secrets is Meetup.com. Meetup is the world’s largest network of local groups. Meetup makes it easy for anyone to organize a local group or find one of the thousands already meeting up face-to-face. What makes Meetup.com so great is it merges the online and the offline worlds by providing consistent face-to-face activities for each group.

There are two main ways that you can use Meetup.com to grow your business, joining a meetup group or organizing a meetup group. For the sake of this post, I will talk about how being a member of a meetup group can help to grow your business. Here are five ways to grow your business by joining a meetup group:

1. Join a Business Networking Meetup. Meetup.com has several business networking groups, if networking is a part of your marketing strategy (and it should be if it is not), start with finding some local networking meetups to join where you can meet other like-minded individuals to network with, make business connections, and learn how to grow your business.

2. Join Meetup Groups that cater to your target market. Once you have clearly defined who your target market is, you can actually find groups on meetup that cater to your target market (i.e. looking for women in their 20’s, 30’s or 40’s check out meetups that cater to this group, looking for health conscious individuals there are meetups in your local area that cater to this type of group too, etc.). Once you find Meetup.com groups that fit your target market, make an effort to join and attend the events and get to know the members. Go to the events with an intention to make new connections which could eventually lead to business, do not go with an intention to sell your product or service at the Meetup, start with building a relationship first.

3. Offer a special perk as a member of a Meetup group. Once you’ve joined a few Meetup.com groups consider offering a special perk to the group in which you offer some type of discount for your services. Each Meetup.com group is different in how they manage or even if they offer perks to their group, but this could be a subtle way to get your name and your business out to the members of the group.

4. Join the conversation. When you RSVP to attend a meetup add comments in the event section to start a connection online before the event even starts, or if the Meetup posts discussions, join in the discussion. This is also a great was to connect and to get your name out there with the group.

5. If you RSVP to attend an event SHOW UP. I cannot emphasis enough the importance of building a relationship with the group and the organizer(s) by making sure you turn up to the event when you RSVP. If at the last minute you are unable to attend, be sure to remove yourself from the event RSVP list, or reach out to the organizer to let him or her know you will no longer be able to attend, don’t just not show up, it looks bad for you and your business.

If you approach any meetup with the intention to get to know the members and make connections it will eventually lead to business. If you approach a meetup with the intention to just sell your product or service you will not be as successful. If you use Meetup.com how are you using it to grow your business?